


Not Just Another Day in the Store

by CharWright5



Category: Original Work
Genre: Band, Gen, Humor, Metal band, References to Christmas Songs, origin story ???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2019-02-11 20:39:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12943410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharWright5/pseuds/CharWright5
Summary: Luca loved his job. His annoying co-worker-slash-bandmate however...





	Not Just Another Day in the Store

**Author's Note:**

> This was written literally years ago as part of a series I had in mind (during like a really intense Avenged Sevenfold phase, which will be obvious). Nothing really came of it except like this Oneshot, another OS that is God knows where, and a sad attempt at the first novel. But whatever, I found this and am posting it here.
> 
> Takes place around December 2001...

If he didn't stop dancing soon, Luca was gonna kick his ass.

Sure he and Rilan had been best friends since '97, when Luca was 13 and Rilan was 12, the elder male teaching the younger how to play guitar, but still. A man had his limits. And at that point, in his seventeenth year on earth, he had reached his.

Rilan, on the other hand, was blissfully unaware as he continued to do the running man in the middle of Rhythm Nation, the music store they both worked in. He didn't care that anyone walking by on the boardwalk had full view through the large store-front window of the ass he was making of himself, nor did he care that his friend was behind the cash register wondering if he could stab the jackass with a drumstick and get away with it.

" _Thumpity thump thump! Thumpity thump thump! Look at Frosty go!_ " He practically yelled along with the song playing over the system, the speakers hiding behind special panels in the ceiling. He turned and faced the other direction, continuing to dance, his red and green mohawk that he had dyed for the season bobbing slightly as he moved.

Luca narrowed his green eyes at the younger male. The fucker was skinny. He'd easily fit in the case for a bass drum. Stick him in the storage room in the back and nobody would hear him for days.

The smirk that appeared on his lips quickly disappeared. If Rilan was gone, he'd have to work more. Not that the store was all that busy, but being floor manager meant he could make Rilan and their workmate Nixon do everything for him while he flirted with the hot chicks that came in hoping to snag a hot musician, which he just happened to be.

Fuck. There went that plan.

" _Thumpity thump thump! Thumpity thump thump!_ "

"Ri," he called out calmly, getting no response. "Ri." Still nothing. "Ri!" He yelled over both the music and his friend's so-called singing.

He stopped dancing and turned to the blond male. "Yeeeees?"

"Who sings this song?" He motioned to the ceiling with his head as he continued to lean forward on the glass counter, his forearms leaving marks he'd have Nixon clean up before they left for the night.

"Not a fuckdamn clue!" He smiled wide and proud.

"Well, it obviously isn't you, so how 'bout you shut the fuck up, huh?" He raised his eyebrows, quickly regretting the decision as his recently pierced left one screamed at him. He'd had the barbell put in the day before and was still stinging slightly when moved too much. His mother hated it. His father didn't give a shit and had taken him to get it done, paying for it also. Which made his mother hate it even more. Having divorced parents had its plusses and minuses, for sure.

Rilan's brow furrowed as he looked at his friend. "I just think your jealous of my amaaaaaaaahzing singing skills."

Luca rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's it."

Just then Nixon made his way over from where he'd been dusting off a fully assembled CC Drum kit. "What happened to the cat?"

The other two males looked at him with confusion all over their faces. "What cat?" the blond asked.

"The one that was dying. I heard it in the other room."

Luca bent over so his head touched the counter, laughing loudly. Rilan wasn't so amused.

"Oh ha ha. Another one jealous of my vocal abilities." He put a hand over his voice box. "Pipes of an angel, gents. Pipes. Of an angel."

"If that's what an angel sounds like then I _know_ I wanna go to Hell."

Luca laughed harder as Rilan rolled his eyes. "Fuck you guys," he stated.

"Nooo thank you," the blond replied as he straightened, wiping a tear from his left eye. "I don't do dudes."

"'Bout the only thing you won't do. Tell me, how was that sheep you did the other night? Not baaaad?"

More eye rolling from the green-orbed one. "Don't you have shit to do."

"Nope, did that before I came to work," he replied as he grabbed his ass.

A two-man chorus of "Duuuuude!" sounded out as Rilan chuckled to himself, heading over to the guitars to pretend to straighten them out.

Nixon shook his head before fixing one of his brown spikes, twirling it to a point with his fingers. "How the hell have you been friends with him for so long?"

Luca shrugged. "Lack of anything better to do really."

He nodded as though that made sense, sucking the hoop in the middle of his lip into his mouth, something he did when he was thinking. The silver ring matched the ones in his ears and his tattoo artist friend had just inked the Japanese symbol for "music" on the left side of his neck, all highly illegal of course, since he was only 16. The shit you do when drunk.

Nixon shrugged once again then headed back into the drum room to finish what he was doing. Luca turned his head to see Rilan wiggling his ass back and forth while he adjusted the row of Gibsons. Because Wham! wasn't gay enough....

The ringing of the bells on the door pulled his attention and he turned to see his friend Declan walk in. Hard to believe they hung out, considering the guy was dressed in khaki pants, a light blue polo, and a pair of slip-on Vans. All right, the Vans were fine, but the khakis? Not so much. But still, the guy was good people and a smart one at that.

"Sup, Dec?" Luca greeted him as he straightened from his leaning position behind the counter, hand extended. The two slapped palms then bumped fists.

"Not much. You?"

"Dealing with Freak Show over there," he stated, motioning to Rilan with his head. "But other than that, not much."

Declan nodded, adjusting his light brown faux-hawk before dropping his hand again. "Oh, you remember Brock, right?"

Luca looked around his friend to the black wall of muscle that was Brock. The guy had been kicked out of his home in Chino Hills two years ago, bouncing from couch to couch before finally meeting Declan. He had convinced his parents to let the drop-out stay with them. And in return, the former homeless teen introduced Declan to the burgeoning Orange County metalcore scene. Declan ended up quitting his punk band that he had been with for three years in order to form one with Brock.

"Sup, man?" he nodded his head at the large male, who just nodded back. He wasn't a talkative bastard, but he could scream his lungs out and not even get hoarse. Which was why Luca ended up joining the band. Rilan followed him, the two of them always being in bands together since learning to play. One of the bands had even included Declan on drums.

He turned back to Declan. "You guys find a bassist yet?"

"Nope, no luck. You?"

"I called my buddy Trav who was in that metal band, uhh..." He ran a hand through his shaggy blond hair, scratching his scalp as he went, trying to think up the name of it. He drew a blank. "Fuck, I don't remember the name of it. But anyway, I called and asked, but he's apparently now in some other band as well as a fuckin' Twisted Sister cover band."

Brock cocked an eyebrow. "That's, like, a step up from being a drag queen."

"That's what I said," Luca commented, leaning on the glass counter again. "Apparently, he didn't appreciate me givin' him a dose of the truth 'cause he hung up. Whatever. His fuckin' mistake."

The buzzed one snorted, the closest he came to a laugh, nodding in agreement as he rubbed the flaming brass knuckles tatted on the inside of his right forearm.

"Declaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!" Rilan unnecessarily yelled, as he always did, sidling up to the taller male. He wrapped his arms around the other male's shoulders, pulling him close. "What up, buuuuddy?!"

"Apparently your Ritalin prescription," the drummer stated seriously.

"I'm not on Ritalin."

"You should be."

"No shit," Luca muttered.

"Someone muzzle that motherfucker!" Nixon yelled from the drum room, making the blond male glad their boss was gone for lunch. Sure, the guy was cool with a lotta shit, but all the yelling he wouldn't put up with, especially if customers were around. Oh, and he wasn't cool with a whole lotta swearing. And he _definitely_ wouldn't be cool with their friends loitering about. Even if the place was more dead than a funeral home.

"You got one we could use?!" Luca yelled back, rubbing the back of his neck, staring down at the items inside the glass counter.

"Nah! Maybe you got a ballgag you could loan him!"

Declan and Rilan both laughed, Ri's louder, of course, while Brock let out another snort and gave half a smirk.

Luca straightened up, staring at the open doorway of the room, acting like he was looking at his co-worker rather than a wall of cymbals. "Hey!" he yelled somewhat offended, pointing at the entrance. "I may be a whore--"

"' _May_ '?" Rilan commented, getting ignored.

"But I'm not a fuckin' masochist or sadist or whatever. I ain't into that kinky shit."

"Which is really rather surprising," the shorter guitarist continued. "Figured you were a try-sexual, do it all kinda guy, considering you pretty much do anything with a vagina."

The blond rolled his eyes, ending on his bandmate. "At least I get some, unlike some v-card holding motherfuckers."

"Don't upset Brock like that. He's very sensitive about his virgin status."

"Fuck you," the large male replied, voice gruff. "I'm not a fuckin' virgin either."

The mohawked one turned to him. "Are you a whore like Luc?"

"Are you a punching bag?"

"Point taken." He turned his head away.

Declan turned his head to the shorter male, arms folded over his chest. "Any chance of you removing your arm?"

"Nope!" He just smiled like a moron.

"I could break it off," Brock volunteered.

"And arm is removing," Rilan stated as he took his arm off his bandmate's shoulders and shoved both hands in his pockets.

"Anyway," Declan started, an obvious attempt to change the subject. "Back to our original topic. Where--"

"Are all the other people?!" That got Rilan stared at like he'd grown a second head, everyone silent.

"Fuckin' moron," Luca muttered after a long moment.

"That was the original topic!" the mohawked one explained. "Fuckin' Adam in the Garden of Eden or whatever, all alone, probably all like 'why am I by myself? Where the other peeps at?'"

"Yes, because slang existed back then," Declan replied sarcastically.

"Exactly!"

"I could run to the pet store and get that muzzle!" Nixon volunteered from the drum room.

"I'm halfway tempted to get you to do just that!" Luca yelled back.

Declan focused on the blond male, eyes serious. "Please do."

Rilan actually had enough sense to look somewhat upset. At least for a brief moment. Then he just shrugged and started smiling again. Sometimes ADD came in handy.

"Anyway," the drummer attempted once more. "I'll try this again: where are we gonna find a bassist?"

"In the drum room!"

All four males turned the head in the direction of the voice, Nixon walking out, dusting rag in hand.

"I can play bass."

Luca furrowed his brow, immediately wincing and relaxing them once more. Fuck, he couldn't wait for that piercing to fully heal up. He had no idea he moved his eyebrows so much. "You play bass?"

The spikey haired one nodded, wrapping the rag around his right hand. "Yeah. Have since I was about eight. My siblings all played guitar or piano and I wanted to be different." He ended his statement with a shrug before twisting the spikes in his hair with his left hand.

The blond male nodded, remembering Nixon once mentioning he was one of five or something stupid. Luca was an only child stuck between two bickering parents. Not that he wanted siblings. Hell no. Being an only helped him get his way and also allowed him to manipulate the warring parentals, not to mention get spoiled fucking rotten by his grandparents. Pretty damn sweet.

Brock turned to the bassist, arms folded over his chest, showing off the biceps he'd been working on in Declan's parents' personal gym. "Whaddya play?"

"He just said he plays bass," Rilan answered in a 'duh' tone. Brock levelled a hard stare at the shorter male, who immediately held his hands up and backed up a couple steps, looking elsewhere. The smaller one may have been a total dumbass, but even he knew better than to fuck with Brock.

The buzzed one turned his head back to Nixon. "I meant what kind of bass do you play?"

"I'll show ya." The mohawked one walked over to the basses, picking up the exact model he had back home, before rejoining the others. "This a try-out or something?"

"Or something." Brock motioned to the instrument with his chin. "Play."

Nixon slipped the strap over his shoulder before positioning his fingers, then he started playing.

Luca's eyebrows went up, impressed, before he winced again. The guy was good, damn better than any of the other bassists he'd played with before. And his style of playing definitely fit in with the sound they were trying to make.

He looked at his current bandmates to guage their reactions. Rilan was bobbing his head along with the beat, smile on his face, silent for once in his damn life. Brock was always silent, that serious scowl still plastered to his face, brow drawn in concentration as he listened closely. Declan was just as quiet, paying as much attention as Brock, his eyes analytical as always. But from what Luca could see on each of their faces, all three of them liked Nixon's playing.

The spikey haired one finished playing, looking at each of the other guys to see what they thought. "Well?"

Declan looked at each of his bandmates, each one nodding. "We practice tonight after the shop closes at my parents' place. I'm sure Luca can give you directions. Make sure you bring your equipment."

Nixon's eyebrows went up. "So that's it? I'm in?"

He nodded. "That's it. Unless you don't want in."

He sucked on his lip ring, pretending to think it over. "All right, I'll be there."

"Sweet!" Luca yelled out, banging his palm on the glass counter. "Looks like we got a bassist now."

"Woohoo!!" Rilan screamed twice as loud, practically jumping on Nixon as he hugged the other male. "Welcome to the baaaaand!!"

"And may God have mercy on your soul."


End file.
